2012 Best of Richmond

You voted, we tallied. Here's your guide to the city that superlatives built.

Tools

About the Survey

The 2012 Style Weekly Readers’ Poll was open to anyone with access to the Internet. Entries were restricted to only one per IP address, meaning that participants could enter only once per computer. Surveys were conducted from Jan. 30 through March 1. The 162-question poll, which resulted in more than 12,800 surveys — though not all of them complete — was open to anyone and was promoted through Style and various outlets, including word of mouth. Style Weekly advertising staff had no access to survey results until they were tabulated and finalized by the editorial team.

Richmond's history reverberates with great opinion leaders, debaters and crusaders. Have you seen the Second Virginia Convention re-enactment at St. John's Church? Patrick Henry wasn't playing around.

Yes, Richmonders stand ready to take a position on just about anything — from the big stuff to the little. And for this year's reader poll, you didn't leave us hanging. Will you agree with your fellow survey takers? No doubt you'll find yourself cheering and hear-hearing a winner on one page, then wondering which idiots picked that one on the next.

But you stood up to be counted. And we've thrown in a few ideas of our own, just for good measure. And so we present Style Weekly's Best of Richmond.

Debate can only lead to greatness. So have at it!

To browse our 2012 Best of Richmond database, simply select a section from the dropdown menu to the left and then pick a category.

We make sense of the news; pursue those in power; explore the city's arts and culture; open windows on provocative ideas; and help readers know Richmond through its people. We give readers the information to make intelligent decisions.